It is known that in the course of a surgical treatment of various eye diseases it is frequently necessary to remove the natural eye lens which is to be subsequently replaced by an artificial lens or intraocular lens implant. Generally the majority of such implants require an additional step of suturing support members or haptic to the iris, which is a comparatively complicated operation especially in affixing the support members to the lower part of the iris. The dislocation of the lens upon pupil dilation is not infrequent if the implant is placed into the puncture of the iris as disclosed in URSS Inventor's Certificate No. 545352, wherein an intraocular lens implant involves the provision of a lens and support feet outside the pupil area and the lens has at least one loop-shaped lug for making a suture affixing the implant to the iris.
Another intraocular lens implant disclosed in USSR Inventor's Certificate No. 858819 has been developed with the aim of facilitating the implantation of the lens and improving the reliability of its fastening. In this implant the upper loop-shaped foot is in the form of two lugs disposed opposite to each other in the horizontal plane of the lens, in the upper half thereof, and the plane of the loop-shaped foot is at an angle of 5.degree. to 8.degree. with respect to the lens plane for imparting a spring-like action. The implant also has a lower support foot.
The disadvantage of this implant resides in that it requires a large iridotomy (up to 4 mm long) in the upper part of the iris with subsequent application of supramide suture which substantially prolongs the operation and causes additional technical difficulties during the implantation. In addition, one cannot completely rule out the possibility of deformation of the pupil and enlargement of iridotomy in cutting the suture through thinned spherical distortions resulting from prolonged compression of the iris tissues which may cause, among other things, dislocation of the intraocular lens implant.
It is an object of the invention to provide an intraocular lens implant which ensures more reliable fastening of the implant in the patient's eye.
Another object of the invention is to simplify the technique of implantation of an intraocular lens, and the elimination of side-effects resulting from the implantation of the lens.